CinderChloe
by scoob2222
Summary: An mistake leads to Jack and Chloe's first date at the annual CTU party. Will Chloe survive the eveningor will her glass slipper shatter? I promise it's better than the summary
1. Chapter 1

Cinder-Chloe

"I don't understand, Jack. You have to go, as the new director of CTU people will expect you to be there. My father will be there and people expect me. I need an escort."

Jack forced back a groan as Audrey followed him around CTU. Tonight was the annual party thrown for CTU, District and Division. He had been carefully dodging her for the last week, but today Audrey had pinned him in his office and there had been no way to avoid it. In desperation he had just gotten up and walked away muttering something about needing to see Chloe, hoping to escape, but no such luck.

Finally, Jack decided he needed to cut Audrey off, "Listen, I just don't think going to the party together is a good idea."

He didn't even get the whole thought out because Audrey had begun talking over him again. Finally he thought of a way to stop her, "Audrey I can't take you, because I already have a date."

Audrey's eyebrow rose and she put on hand on her hip, "Who is your date?"

Jack thought of making a name up, but realized that Audrey would only find out the truth later tonight. Just then he glanced over and saw his savior walking towards him, "Chloe," he said without thinking.

"What?" Audrey said at the same time Chloe said, "Yeah."

"Chloe, I'm taking Chloe."

"Taking Chloe where?" Chloe asked, clearly confused.

"To the annual CTU party tonight." He looked at Chloe, the desperation clear in his eyes and she quickly caught on.

"Oh right, the party. Yeah, Jack and I are…going…uh together."

"Right," Jack said wanting to end this conversation, but Audrey quickly interjected before with, "Jack is this some kind of joke?"

He opened his mouth to spit back a retort, but Chloe beat him to it.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chloe spat back and as Audrey turned away from him and toward Chloe he knew he had to interject before things got ugly.

"Audrey," he said firmly, "I asked Chloe to go with me and she agreed and that's it. I'm sorry."

Audrey huffed loudly, glared at Chloe, whose gave her a sarcastic smile in return, and then stomped away.

Chloe turned to Jack, "For the life of me I can't understand why you two every broke up." And then as if hearing it in her mind, "Sorry that was rude."

Jack turned completely toward her and smiled, "Well so was she. So, pick you up at seven-thirty."

"Pick me up for what?" Chloe questioned.

"The party we're going to tonight."

Chloe turned to him in confusion, but then laughed, "Yeah right, Jack, good one. You really had me going for a minute."

"I'm serious."

"Jack, that's not funny, so quit joking around," Chloe's tone made it obvious that she wanted this conversation over with as soon as possible.

"Chloe, I don't joke. You have to come with me to the party tonight."

Chloe moved from uncomfortable to horrified in five seconds flat, "Jack, are you insane? You want me to go to a party with all the bigwigs from CTU, District and Division in four hours."

"Yes."

Chloe took a deep breath and tried not to scream, "Let me repeat that slowly for you Jack. You want me, in four hours, to find a dress that won't break my budget, do something with my hair and make up and figure out a way not to embarrass myself completely."

"Exactly. So, seven-thirty?"

"No," Chloe moved into full on panic as she now realized he was completely serious and obviously seriously insane, "Not seven-thirty. Jack I do not do parties. You have to mingle and schmooze and dance, none of which I'm capable of doing."

Jack heaved a great sigh, "Chloe, it's a party. You can talk to some people, or not, you can schmooze, or not, and you certainly do not have to dance. All you have to do is go home, find something to wear and save me from spending the entire night with Audrey plastered to my side."

Chloe rolled her eyes, "Couldn't you just find someone else to go with."

"I already told Audrey I was taking you."

"Tell her I'm sick, which I probably will be if you make me go."

"Chloe, don't you think you're exaggerating a little. It's a party, not a game of Russian roulette."

"There the same thing to me."

Jack was silent for a moment, because he could see, clearly, that she really felt that way. She was truly terrified of saying or doing something wrong.

"Listen, if you really don't want to go, I'll make up an excuse, but I really would like you to come with me. These things can be long and tedious and I'd love your company."

Chloe's shoulder dropped and Jack could see her slowly relenting.

"Please, Chlo."

Chloe cursed him for using her nickname. She'd hated being calling her 'Chloe' all her life, until Jack. Spenser had tried calling her 'Chlo' and she'd stopped answering him. But the way Jack said it made it seem to intimate, like they were the only two people in the room. Crap.

"Fine," she said, "I'll go, but I have to leave immediately to go shopping."

"Go ahead, everything's quiet here. I'll see you in a few hours." Jack shooed her away before she could change her mind, but she turned to him one last time and said, with all traces of sarcasm gone, "You better not change your mind and ditch me for Audrey when we get there."

Jack looked into her eyes and said, just as seriously, "I would never ditch you Chloe. I know the way I asked you was unconventional, but there's no one else I'd rather go with."

For a moment they smiled at each other and then Chloe turned and hurried out of CTU, she had three hours and forty-five minutes to knock Jack's socks off. Now, she just had to go home and figure out what that meant. She hoped to high heaven that the answer could be found on a computer.


	2. Chapter 2

What had she been thinking? Clearly she had lost her mind in the store. That was the only explanation for buying this…this….napkin that was passing as a dress.

After leaving CTU Chloe had hurried to the store as fast as possible. She had tried on dress after dress and nothing had worked. Everything was too tight, too revealing or just plain ugly. One sales lady, obviously noticing her hysteria, had tried to pawn a yellow and purple nightmare off on her.

Finally, she had found a dress. It fit, but she could breathe, it wasn't too revealing and it was as perfect as it was going to get. However, when she found it she only had one hour left to get ready. So she had tried it on and when it fit she had the sales lady ring it up. It was only an hour later; with her hair in a messy French twist and her make up done that she looked in the mirror at the finished product.

And promptly screamed.

The dress had not looked like this on the hanger. She was sure it didn't look like this in the mirror at the shop, but she had been rushing and now….

The bra the sales lady had gotten her was not something she would normally wear. It pushed everything up and out so that the line of the dress was no longer as modest as it had looked in the store. God…where had those come from?

The dress length was not bad, just above her knee by a few inches, but she hadn't noticed the slits that went practically to her hips. Combined with the high heels that made her legs look longer than she had ever imagined them looking and one thing was clear. She could not go outside like this. There was no way. She began to tear through her closets, looking for a dress that she knew was not there when Jack's voice came over her intercom.

"Chloe, are you there?"

She ran over to answer, "Jack, I'm not ready." She just barely controlled the shriek that wanted to come out of her mouth.

"It's okay, we've got time, just buzz me in and I'll wait."

Right, buzz him in so we don't have to have this conversation over an intercom. Brilliant Chloe. Finally she buzzed him in and unlocked and opened the door. She could not be in the room when he came in.

"Chloe," he called as he closed the front door.

"I'm in the bathroom Jack."

"Okay. How much time do you need?"

"Time?"

"To finish getting ready?"

"Oh, uh I'm not sure. Maybe you should check back tomorrow."

Jack took a deep breath and said, "Chloe you're ready aren't you?"

"Yes," she said sounding utterly defeated.

"Come out of the bathroom, Chloe."

"No."

"Chloe…" he said with a warning in his voice, "Come out or I'm coming in."

"You can't. I locked the door."

He chuckled, "Chloe, come on."

She rolled her eyes. Okay so the door could be attached to a nuclear bomb and at the most it would only slow him down.

"Okay," she finally relented, "but you need to remember I only had a few hours to get ready and you can't laugh."

"Chloe I won't laugh. Now get out here already."

Taking a deep breath she squared her shoulders and opened the door.

Jack's mouth opened, but no sound came out.

"Okay, well you're not laughing."

"….."

"Jack, say something."

"……"

"Jack, you're really making me nervous. Is it that bad? That's it, I'm not going."

Just then Jack seemed to snap out of it. "No, no, you don't look bad."

She turned back hopefully, "So I look okay?" She could live with okay.

"No, not okay. Chloe, you look...exquisite."

Chloe beamed at him. That one word meant more than anything anyone had ever said to her before.

Jack smiled back at her, "So, now can we go?"

"Yeah," she said smiling, "We can go."

Jack waited as she got her purse and then held out his arm for hers and led her out of the apartment.

She hadn't had time to look up the exact definition of knocking someone's socks off, but she had a feeling that this was a pretty good start.


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe took a deep sigh of relief. Over an hour ingot the party and she had basically managed to avoid embarrassing herself. They had walked in, she had not tripped and she had actually managed to mingle really well….pretty well….okay so she had barely said a word, but she hadn't said the wrong words either, so it was a win-win situation.

In fact, other than Bill Buchanan's louder than necessary exclamation of, "Chloe, is that you?" when he had recognized her everything had been going perfectly. They had finished dinner and she was sitting at the table as Jack made the rounds, talking to a few people.

Just as she relaxed her stance she felt someone sit beside her. Since she was looking at Jack across the room, she had a pretty good idea who it was.

"Chloe," oozed out of the man beside her, "I didn't expect to find you here."

She turned around to face him, "Well, I didn't expect to see you either, Spencer. Wait, no, I hoped that I wouldn't see you."

He chuckled, "Now is that anyway to talk to a former lover."

She felt her face flush red at his words. There were at least 5 other wives at the table, all of their gazes firmly fixed on her.

"What do you want Spencer?"

"I just wanted to come over and tell you how spectacular you look tonight." She remembered how amazing it felt when Jack called her exquisite. In comparison Spencer's comment made her uncomfortable.

Spencer brought his hand up to her bare shoulder, stroking it lightly, "And I thought maybe we could dance."

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Come on, Chloe, people are starting to stare. And I can get a lot louder. It's just a dance, after all."

She looked across the room frantically, but Jack was deep in conversation. This time she was going to have to rescue herself.

"Fine," she said, "One dance." She got up from her chair and hurried to the floor. He wasted no time in pulling her close. Too close. His body was pressed up against her, his arms around her waist, leaving her no choice but to put hers around his neck.

He smiled at her, spinning her around and dipping her slightly. As he brought her back up his mouth came dangerously close to hers.

"Watch yourself, Spencer," she demanded, angrily, still trying to stay under the party's radar.

"Come on Chlo, we were so good together. We could be great together." He brushed his lips against her shoulder and she pulled as far back as his arms would allow.

"You were lying to me and using me. Just because the President and CTU felt you weren't guilty does not mean that I would ever let you near me again."

"I'm near you known. Come on, it's not like you have a hoard of men waiting to date you."

"If this is your seduction line, it needs some serious work."

"It worked last time. But that was before Jack came back. Now, you're hopelessly devoted to being his lap dog."

She glared at him, "You have no idea what you are talking about."

"Oh no? I know that he came with you to get away from Audrey. I know that you agreed to go, even though you hate parties, because he asked so nicely. Don't you get sick of being his lap dog?"

This time her push was more firm and he had to let go of her. "You don't know anything about me and you certainly don't know anything about Jack."

"I know he's not at all interested in getting in your pants, Chloe. Even though you've made it clear you'd let him in without any fuss." At this point he grabbed her arm and hauled her close. "Face it Chloe, you don't have any other options, especially now that Edgar kicked the bucket."

She saw nothing but red and felt her arm lunge out, but she never connected. Jack seemed to appear out of nowhere, his hand stopping her arm gently. She tried to control the anger and took several deep breaths.

"If you don't mind" she heard Jack say, "I'd like to dance with my date now." She watched Spencer nod and skulk away. Before she knew it she was swept into Jack's arms.

"I thought you didn't dance?" he asked, clearly trying to calm her.

"I don't, but I didn't have much choice if I wanted to avoid a scene."

She saw and heard Jack's sigh, "I shouldn't have left you for that long."

She moved to quickly reassure him, "its fine. He was just being a jerk. I'm used to it."

"What did he say that upset you so much? When I got here you were about to hit him."

She considered, unsure what exactly to reveal, "He suggested I give him another chance, since I didn't have a lot of other options. And then he mentioned Edgar and I….I kind of lost it."

His eyes were kind as they caught hers, "Well, did you tell him that you had a date tonight? And plenty of options?"

"I didn't really have a chance, plus he was saying things…" She rushed to stop the flow of words.

"What kind of things?"

She considered making something up, but the look in his eyes told her he was not budging," About you...and me and our...relationship. He kind of compared me to a lap dog."

She saw the anger flare in Jack's eyes as he scanned the room. Luckily for her ex, he had already left the room. As Jack looked back down at her, he gave her his most compassionate look. All she could pray for was that he didn't try to make her feel better. "Chloe, you are way to strong to be anyone's lap dog, least of all mine. That's not the way I think of us at all."

Us! She reminded herself that jumping up and down in place would be childish and ruin her attempts to knock his socks off.

"Us?" she asked instead, calmly and rationally.

"Yeah. I mean you're my best friend. I trust you more than anyone else. And lately, I've been thinking./"

"Yes," she whispered as he dipped his head lower, toward her mouth.

"I've been thinking about the two of us…."

"JACK!" the screech could be heard across the room, where a very drunk Audrey Raines, was making a beeline for Jack.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: I got a reply asking about Edgar, since I started the story before he died. Basically the dance takes place 3-4 months after Season 5 ends. So, I wrote in Edgar's death, but there is enough time for Chloe to grieve, heal, etc. Also, don't hate me for this chapter. I promise to fix the mess I make.

The door slammed behind her as Chloe let herself into her apartment. She flopped down on the coach and wondered how she got here. Jack had asked her out, called exquisite and almost kissed her.

Then Audrey interrupted them. "Ughh," she moaned as her mind replayed the scene.

"_Jack," Audrey shrieked as she crossed the dance floor towards him. She was stumbling and clearly very drunk. _

_Next to her Jack had stiffened, still holding on to her, but as Audrey bumbled up he had no choice to let go and catch Audrey as she fell._

"_Jack," she said again and then looked over at Chloe, "And his date. Your Jack's date. That's funny, cause Jack told me a few months ago that he still loved me, so why is he on a date with Little Miss Computer Nerd."_

_Chloe had no idea her entire body could freeze that way. Jack was still in love with Audrey. That made no sense! He was here with her, he had almost kissed her. She would think Audrey was lying, but the panic in Jack's eyes said it all. He still loved Audrey._

"_Audrey," she heard Jack say, "You had too much to drink. I think we should call you a cab and get you home."_

"_No," Audrey said loudly, attracting some people to look toward her, "I want you to take me home."_

_Chloe felt her blood pressure rise as Jack looked at her helplessly. Audrey's father was at the party, but had left a few minutes earlier to head to Washington. _

"_No, Audrey," Jack said firmly, "I'm going to call you a cab and you're going home to sleep it off."_

"_No," Audrey said petulantly and refused to move, even as Jack tried to pull her toward the exit._

"_Audrey…" Jack began, and looked at Chloe for help. He couldn't just leave her. If she was left by herself she could get hurt or arrested. That would look back for her father, who despite his crazy children was a good guy._

"_It's okay, Jack," she finally said, "Everyone's leaving. Why don't you take Audrey home?"_

"_What about you?"_

"_I'll get a ride from someone. I see Carrie in the corner, I'm sure she wouldn't mind."_

"_But, Chloe, you can come with me and I'll just drop her off."_

_She looked Audrey up and down, "Jack, I think she's going to need more than a drop off. You're going to have to stay with her for a while, at least." She schooled her features to show her nonchalance at the whole situation, "It's fine, Jack. I better go catch Carrie."_

And she had practically run out of the room at mach speed. The night had begun perfectly, and it had ended a perfect mess. Jack was still in love with Audrey and right now he was at her apartment taking care of her.

Chloe pulled the dress of her body and threw it on the floor. There would be no reason to wear it again. As she began pulling on a t-shirt she heard a knock at the door. She ran over, hoping it was Jack.

Once again she was disappointed.


	5. Chapter 5

Rated: T

Disclaimer: Not Mine

A/N: Okay someone mentioned to me that I put Carrie in the last part and Carrie died a few episodes again. Oops! I meant the woman who was in the sealed off room who was helping before Chloe snapped out of it. Anyway she doesn't really matter to the story, but thanks for the heads up. Also, the story has been from Chloe's pov up until now, but this part will be from Jack's.

How had the night ended up like this? That was a strange thing to say since the night hadn't been planned to begin with, but after the strange situation that led to him taking Chloe he thought it would be a great night to tell her how he felt about her. It would give him a chance to get her on a date, without her thinking it was a real date. A chance to romance her without making her nervous and everything was going so well, until the last few minutes of the night anyway.

Dear Lord, what was she doing in there? It had been thirty minutes since Audrey had gone into her bedroom to change. She had made him promise to stay until she was done. Finally, hoping that she had simply passed out on her bed he made his way toward the bedroom door.

"Audrey," he whispered, not wanting to wake her if he'd been blessed enough to find her asleep.

"Come in," the soft voice dashed all his hopes.

"Oh God," were Jack's words as he walked into the bedroom and found Audrey lying on the bed, in a red teddy.

"Jack," she drawled, "It's about time you joined me."

"Audrey," he began, then stopped, not sure what to say and finally decided on, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Waiting for you. Took you long enough to get the hint."

He took a deep breath and forced himself not to lose his temper, "You were never drunk at all, were you? This was all a stupid game."

"Not a game," she said as she stood up and walked toward him, "A plan. I know you got stuck taking Chloe and I got you out of there, so you could be with me," she smiled as she finished, not noticing the glare in his eyes.

"I wasn't stuck with Chloe. I asked her to the party. I would have taken anyone to get out of taking you, but I got lucky and Chloe said yes." Not entirely the truth, but close enough.

Audrey's eyes went dark, "You actually wanted to be with that pathetic, little…"

"Audrey, don't even think about finishing that sentence or so help me…" he had had enough of her for one night, or for several lifetimes. "Now, I brought you home and I am leaving. Don't even think of pulling something like this again."

As he walked toward the door, she yelled to him, "Don't bother going to Chloe's. She'll be too busy to see you."

He was back at her side in a moment, his hand grabbing her arm, "What the hell does that mean? What did you do?"

Audrey smiled, despite the pain in her arm, "Just let Spencer know that Chloe would be feeling a little down and very alone tonight. After hearing that you still loved me and then abandoning her she'll probably be desperate for a little attention."

He thought about yelling, but realized the most important thing to do was get to Chloe, but he left her one last threat, "If he does anything to hurt her, you're going to regret it Audrey."

As he ran out of the apartment and to his car all he could think was that he'd gotten her into another of his messes. He'd forced her to come tonight, even though she desperately did not want to, he'd left her to be attacked by Spencer, let her think he still loved Audrey and finally, he had done the on thing he promised not to do. He had left her for Audrey.

He swore on anything and everything that if she was okay he would never leave her again.


	6. Chapter 6

She had no idea why she had let him in. Why she was standing here in a t-shirt with nothing but trashy red panties underneath waiting for him to say something.

"What do you want now?" she finally said.

Spencer just smiled at her angry tone, "you know what I want Chloe. You. It's what I've always wanted."

"You never wanted anything but information and an easy lay. I'm not falling for it again, Spencer." She turned away from him to look out the window, praying he would get the hint and leave. Then she felt him press against her and realized getting rid of him would not be so easy.

"Come on, Chloe we both know the real reason you're dodging me. You're waiting for Jack, but you know that he's not interested in you like that. He's in love with Audrey. He's with her right now." When had his voice gotten so calm? So seductive.

She turned slightly, confused, "How do you know he's with Audrey?"

"I saw them leave together. I saw him leave you."

"She was drunk;" she rushed to explain, "Jack was just helping her home."

"And do you think he left when he got her home. He's probably there with her right now. He'll probably spend the night with her. Face it Chloe, you'll never be anything to him but a useful way to get information."

"That's…" she tried to get her breath, "That's not true."

"Of course it is," he said and slowly he put his arms on her waist, wrapped them around as his lips found the place where her neck met her shoulder, "You know it is Chloe. Jack doesn't care about you, doesn't want you, but I do, so much." His lips moved to hers, kissing her fast and deep before she could move away.

But she didn't move away. She let Spencer sweep her up in the kiss. He was right. Jack was never going to love her. He loved Audrey and he always would. Hell, he was probably making love to her right now.

But that didn't explain why Jack had asked her tonight. Why had he avoided Audrey so completely? Why had he rescued her from Spencer? And then he had been so reluctant to leave her.

He had said she looked exquisite.

Chloe shoved Spencer with all her might and sent him almost sprawling to the floor.

"What the hell?"

"What the hell? You have got to be kidding me. Do you really think I'm stupid enough to sleep with you after the way you treated me? After the things you said tonight?" She paused to catch her breath and then continued, "And you know nothing about Jack and me."

Spencer got back up on his feet and moved toward her. Trapped against the desk she had no where to go. She lifted her hands to push him again, but he caught them at the wrists.

"Let me go," she said, anger making it difficult for her to think clearly.

"Come on Chloe," he said bringing her body in close to his, "I know you want me. You're just scared." With his hands still around her wrists he pulled her in and kissed her. She tried to move away and one of his hands moved up to hold her head. With no where to go and her fear escalating every second she wretched away and screamed, "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

The scream had no effect on the Spencer, but the huge crash did. As she looked up she saw her door hanging of its hinges and a fury filled Jack Bauer standing in her doorway, murder in his eyes.

His eyes never left Spencer as he demanded "Let her go!" No one moved, "NOW!" Spencer dropped her hands, probably out of shock, more than fear. But his fear grew as Jack came closer and grabbed him by the neck. Dragging him to the wall he slammed him against it, "Listen, very closely to me Spencer. Stay away from Chloe. Don't come near her, don't call her, and don't even think about her, because if you do I will be your worst nightmare." Not bothering to wait for a response he dragged Spencer to the door and threw him out before closing it and locking it.

Chloe watched him take a deep breath and turn towards her.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

Somehow she managed, "Yeah, I'm fine."

He opened his mouth to speak again, and then closed. He came closer until she felt his body warming hers and opened his mouth again, but again he said nothing. He growled in frustration. And then he did something she never in a million years would have expected. Something that he had never done before.

He kissed her.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own 24. If I did then Jack and Chloe, well you all know the drill.

A/N: Okay, guys we've reached the end. Cinder-Chloe is finished. I want to thank everyone who has read and reviewed. The feedback on this story has been the best I've ever had and I am really sad to see it end. So, I've decided to write a sequel. For anyone who read the first chapter of "A Midnight Mess," I will be re-working it and making it the sequel to this story. So, look for the revised version in a few days.

Chapter 7

Chloe's first reaction to Jack kissing her was to jerk away in shock, but that never happened because Jack was holding her too tightly. He kept hold of her arms until she realized into the kiss.

Finally, he slid his arms around her waist, lifting her slightly and aligning their bodies from head to toe.

Chloe was sure she was going to die of shock—if she didn't die of pleasure first.

Then the need to breathe became too much and they has to separate.

As Chloe looked up she saw the one look she had never gotten from Jack Bauer before—pure lust. He leaned forward again, but this time she did pull back, "You—you kissed me," she said, and then cursed her self for sounding like a kid in junior high.

Jack just stood there, still staring at her unwaveringly, "Yes."

"But, but" she couldn't fin the words, "Why?'

Jack smiled patiently, "I would think that it's fairly obvious, Chloe. I've wanted to kiss you all night."

Chloe felt a sudden anger overcome her, for reasons she could never explain, and she began to ramble, "No, you...you got stuck taking me to this stupid party. You tricked me into going and then you ditched me for Audrey—everything thought you promise not to and …and...your supposed to be with Audrey having sex with her.---not kissing me." Chloe wasn't out of steam, but she was out of words. She couldn't believe she had even gotten those thoughts out. Later she would decide that her anger and stress had overcome her complete lack of social skills.

"Do you want me to be having sex with Audrey?" Jack asked.

The look she gave him was vicious, "Of course not Jack. Do you want me to be having sex with Spencer?" The moment she said it she felt like an idiot. What did he care who she had sex with.

But Jack's eyes turned gold with anger as he looked back at her door, then at her. He moved forward, "Did he hurt you? When U came in he…you were struggling."

Some of Chloe's anger evaporated at his obvious concern, "No, I don't know if he would actually have hurt me, but you got there before he had the chance."

Jack seemed to be somewhat calmed by her reassurance, but his eyes told her the subject was far from closed.

The silence was deafening for a long minute and then Jack came closer again, tilting her chin up.

"I'm sorry, Chloe. I should never have left with Audrey."

"I understand," she interrupted, "She was drunk and…"

"Don't make excuses for me," he almost yelled, fingers flexing on her arms where he now held her an inch from his body. "I promised tonight would be just you and me and I screwed up, Chloe. No excuses."

She felt herself nod and then, before she lost her nerve asked the question that had haunted her since the moment Audrey had said it. "Do you still love her?"

"No. I feel guilty because I hurt her so much and frankly, after tonight, I feel pity for the person she's become." He stopped for a moment and seemed to be fathering his thoughts. He moved away to sit a0on her coach and motioned for her to join him. After endless minutes he looked up at her, "Chloe, when I was in hiding, it was like I really was dead. I was stagnant, always running, but never moving, never living. Except when I talked to you. Once every month I had something to look forward to, something real. When you called me and said you were in trouble, all I could think about was getting to you. Nothing else mattered. But when we got to CTU and I talked to Audrey and she forgave me. I don't know, but for a moment I wanted to go back. Back before it all went wrong. Back to working for the DOD and being out o CTU. So, she asked and I told her that I loved her, but I was lying without even meaning to. I don't love Audrey and she doesn't love me. She loves the person I created when I was with her, the person I created for her. It wasn't real." Jack stopped now, reached out and pulled her so she was plastered against his side. "You were, the only thing that was real, Chloe."

He brought his face close to hers, "You still are." Barely got the statement out before she pressed her lips to his. This time the kiss went from sweet to hot in seconds and before she knew it she was on his lap struggling with their clothes, until he said, "Wait Chloe, we have to stop."

Her face was shocked and dejected. She made a move to get off of him, but he kept her close, "Just listen, Chloe. I want you. I want this, more than you probably know, but not like this."

"Like what?" she asked, now irritated y

"Chloe, we haven't even been out on a real date. I mean after Audrey and Spencer plotting against us and everything else that happened tonight, do your really want this to be the first night we make love."

She blushed slightly at that, because it conjured images of them really making love.

As much as she hate to admit it, he was right, "Tonight has been crazy. I mean, I don't even have a door." There enough her door was completely off the hinges.

Jack just smiled at her, "Well then I better stay the night until we get you a new door."

Chloe's smile could have lit up a stadium, "I would like that."

Both smiled as they went into got up to move into the bedroom, wanting nothing more to forget the craziness of the night and sleep peacefully in each other's arms.

"Wait, Chloe," Jack sopped at the door to her bedroom, "I need to ask you something."

"What is it Jack?" she asked, concerned by the seriousness of his voice.

"Will you go out with me tomorrow? No crazy exes, no work, just you and me."

He was so earnest; it warmed her to her soul. This was Jack, her kindred spirit, her other half, wanting nothing more than to take her on a date. If it was anymore more perfect he would have to be holding a glass slipper.

Smiling, she took his had, and deciding that fairytales weren't half bad after all said, "Yes."


End file.
